The Locke Splitter

This is a pretty moderate 5.7/5.8 climb with some surprisingly great crack climbing.

From the bottom you can pick out an interesting jagged white flake with a crack on top. That crack is the splitter - so much fun and it goes for an entire pitch.   To find the start move up on class 4 bushy ledges until you run low of comfy belay spots. Belay here. We built a cairn here but winter snow creeping down the dome probably would knock it over.

Pitch 1. Move up the center of the three cracks, or probably any of them. It starts easy 5th and ends at 5.6 at a ledge with two bolts. 50m

Pitch 2. You can now see the white flake thing, the crack system above it and the bolt lower down used to get there. You can climb directly to the bolt (5.6 PG13) or head to the right of the bolt and into a right facing book. From there you can step up and lean out to clip the bolt. Once the bolt is clipped step out (5.7) and head left and up to broken layers of rock and good pro. Step over the layers and move up friction moves (5.7 thin pro on left) and progressively easier over the top of the flakey thing to stop and belay at the base of the cracks. Small cams, small ledge. 35m

Pitch 3. Start up the right crack and move into the left when you feel like it. You’ll feel like it pretty quickly. Some vegetation and a dike / roof is the crux of the climb, forcing some friction moves to bypass the difficulty. (5.8-) A 1”cam is good for a spot dug out of the vegetation and a 2” cam is good for the lip of the roof. After the dike you can place as many 1” cams as you like and I think we used a .75” as well. Stop to belay at a decent stance and a large flake you can sling. 45m

Pitch 4. Head up or take a few steps right into a crack with good pro. Climb up the right facing book to the top, passing a hole in the rock where you can get in some pro. From the top of the book take a few steps left and then head straight up the slab, looking for a crescent shaped indent (pro) and then up past a bolt.  Not far past the bolt is a step-up with pro possibilities. Belay here. 50m

Pitch 5. Your goal with this 5.6 pitch is to head toward and under the leftmost and largest of the massive piles of blocks on the ridge.

First though, head up and slightly right to find a bolt protecting a step-up, 30 feet. Then a little left 40 feet to a bolt protecting another step up. Next head at a 45 angle left and up towards the break in the headwall below the pile of rocks. You pass some step ups and maybe some thin pro. A final bolt protects the hardest step up. Keep moving left another 30 feet to the top.

You can easily see the descent and you can pick the least steep lines as you walk on down past the start of the climb.

Unfortunately while putting up this climb we could see the pyro-cumulus clouds over the Creek Fire and didn't know they had already evacuated Shaver and Huntington and had closed off Courtright for anyone coming in. We did stay that night but Courtright was evacuated the next day and we moved out quickly.

There are numerous ways to get out to Locke Rock:

Start at hiking trailhead on west side of lake and hike in, about a 2.5 hour fast walk.

Use a capable (really capable) 4x4 rig and drive out the Dusy Ephraim 4x4 road, but that will take a while so you probably would want to camp.

If the water is low on the reservoir we have used e-bikes. Bike the 3 miles of the 4x4 road to the 4x4 campground and then hit the beach for a fast ride to the end of the lake, a bit sandy in areas. From there it is another few miles on the 4x4 road to Locke, but you miss the serious 4x4 stuff that would be difficult on a bike.

To reach the Locke Splitter: From the 4x4 road in view of the dome, cross the meadow heading left, up through the forest heading left, then up the tallus slope to the base of the rock. Head left a few hundred yards along the base towards the left side of the dome looking for a three pronged dead tree (see photo) on the left in the bushes. Then look right for the three cracks that comprise pitch 1. Above the three cracks is a whitish, large flake looking thing and you can glimpse the crack leaving it. The start of the climb is about 100 feet right of a large right facing book system, the last big book system of the dome (and the location of Night Train).

Light or standard rack to two inches. Two or three or four 1” cams.